Career
DiPaolo himself is Human Immunodeficiency Virus positive. Joey DiPaolo contracted Human Immunodeficiency Virus during a heart surgery in 1984. He required a blood transfusion, and the blood given to him came from an Human Immunodeficiency Virus-infected donor.
DiPaolo had been diagnosed with ASD, a type of heart disease, and surgery was needed to save his life.
From 1985 to 1988, DiPaolo went through several episodes of sickness. Although none of them were related to his heart.
DiPaolo spent many days and nights suffering from different kinds of symptoms during that period. In 1988, DiPaolo was diagnosed with Human Immunodeficiency Virus. At the time, doctors gave DiPaolo only one year to live.
Doctors told the DiPaolo family that it would be best for them to hide DiPaolo"s condition, on the belief that keeping the condition a secret would be in the family"s best interests.
DiPaolo, nevertheless, became a very active boy in school with the help of medicines, and he made friendships. He experienced a health improvement in 1989, and seemed to live the normal life that other children led. In 1990, DiPaolo once again faced death: He became so ill early during that year that, at one point, doctors gave him only two days to live.
He recovered, and later on, he was able to attend an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome funds gala, where he met NFL football player Lawrence Taylor.
Taylor autographed a ball for DiPaolo, and the two had a photo taken together. DiPaolo had decided to uncover his secret about being Human Immunodeficiency Virus positive.
Eventually, many of those that initially abandoned the family returned to be friends with the DiPaolos. Joey DiPaolo faced crowds of protesters in front of his school for a period after he voluntarily took the step of disclosing his disease.
The parents were afraid that their kids could catch Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome by being in contact with Joey, and they wanted Joey out of the school.
At one point, Joey"s father planned to move to New Jersey, where, he figured, Joey would be accepted to a new school. Eventually, a New York court decided that Joey DiPaolo would stay in the educational center he attended. The DiPaolo case made headlines internationally, and it was covered by different types of media, such as multiple television channels and newspapers.
In 1992, Home Box Office aired the Lifestories: Families in Crisis special "Blood Brothers: The Joey DiPaolo Story".
Later on, DiPaolo established a lawsuit against the center from which the blood with which he was contaminated came. Joey DiPaolo is currently an Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome activist who meets and talks with many other Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome patients yearly.
Joey currently resides in Staten Island, with his girlfriend Lauren and operates a Barber shop in Tottenville.
